Prohibited
by Aozora-chan
Summary: The human named Sora, meets a mermaid named Kairi. And while they search around for the hidden treasure, Ansem...
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I was bored, so I decided to write a new story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Disney or Square.

Chapeter 1

Sora stared at the sky, wondering what would actually happen if he went out to sea. He sat down onto the grass and looked at the shore. As if he can go there.

"Sora, your teacher's here," said Riku. He sat down next to him. "The sea's dangerous, and you know that."

"Yeah, so? It doesn't look that bad," said Sora. _Not as bad as my home._ "Can we please just touch the sand?"

"Your mom said not to go near the sand. I can't do anything about it." He stood back up and walked away. The distressed Sora looked back at the sea. Just because his parents didn't like water didn't mean he did.

Maybe it was mermaids that made Sora love the sea. His dad did tell him that he was amazed with mermaids and merman when he was little. But no matter how much that people didn't believe in fairy tales, and sailormen thought they were dreaming, he wanted to find out if there were actual mer-people out there.

Sora sighed and went where Riku was heading.

"Since the circle is 360 degrees, you divide it by 5, and you get…"

Sora looked out of the window and at the sparkling water. It was really mesmerizing that he couldn't keep his eyes off of it.

"And that concludes our study for today," the teacher finished. "Have a nice day, young man." Sora paid no heed, but the sound of slamming doors caught his attention.

"So, what are you doing, staring out to the sea Sora?" her mother asked.

"Well…"

"No excuses. I'm going to have to cover them up if you keep gazing out and not paying attention to your work." His mother sighed and slammed the paperwork onto his desk.

"Your homework, and no eating until you finish it." She got up and left, while Sora was left in hunger. Any soon, his mom would call up the servants to cover every window in the mansion. How jollyful.

More like doleful. Sora got up from his seat and went to the library's shelf, and pulled out the mythology book. Then he looked at the sheet of paper and smiled. It said to write a detailed report dealing with one kind of mythology creatures.

Sora opened the book and flipped to his favorite page, 164, which also become to known as his favorite number. And if anyone knew Sora okay, would know why it was his favorite number.

It was his favorite number because it was the page about mermaids and merman and it seriously was his lucky number. And when there weren't 164 in luck, 64 worked fine. And if not that, it would become 4.

Sora had read the same exact page, out of the same exact book, from the same exact shelf, which was in the same exact library that existed a very long time. He read it so many times, his mom threatened that the book would be pot into the furnace if he kept reading it, but he had an excuse.

So Sora sat there, reading the first paragraph, oblivious to the world, until one shriek got his attention.

"Sora!" his mom screamed. Sora flinched. "Go upstairs to your room, and change into something nice! Not those plain outfits you wear everyday, something formal! Up, now!"

And Sora did as what she asked him to, even in a rude way. Whatever he was doing it for, it didn't sound nice at all. Sora closed the book and secretly took the book with him, unnoticed by anyone.

"Riku?" Riku was cleaning up the books and setting them back where they belonged. He turned around and waved.

"Can I ask you a question?" Riku shrugged, like he usually did when he said yes, and Sora ran up to him.

"What should I wear?

"Well… something you like."

"Option canceled."

"Something formal."

"Don't have any."

"Why don't you wear that suit I gave to you?"

"Fine." Sora didn't like it, but he didn't want to upset his friend, so he had no other choice but to wear it. He thanked Riku and headed up to his room, and back down to something dreadful.

"Comb that hair of yours," his mom snapped.

"It was like that since I was little," said Sora.

"Whatever. Now listen up. We have a rich family coming in, along with your fiancée."

"But I don't have a fian – "

"Now you do," she hissed. "Her name is Namine, and you will greet her nicely like you warm friend, Riku."

"But – "

"And you will be sat down, looking straight forward, having your back straight up, and I will get the door. Your dad will talk, and you and Namine will talk as well. If you try any means of distracting this perfect dinner, the windows will be closed forever, I will burn down your favorite mythology book, you will not be allowed to even sit on the grass to stare out at the sea, and you will be grounded for the rest of your life."

"But – "

"No excuses about how you don't want to marry her. We want to the money, so we can get richer."

_Talk about selfishness,_ Sora thought angrily. "But – "

"And no buts in dinner, don't talk with your mouth full, and don't act like a complete jerk who doesn't know anything."

Sora stopped auguring. When there was money, there were no words that could stop them from doing what they're doing. He shook his head and obeyed.

Minutes passed by, and they turned into hours. The family, whoever they were called, still didn't show up. Sora's stomach called for food, and he praised 164. As if god had heard him, the doorbell rang, and his mom furiously ran to the door and greeted them.

"Hello, hello, come in, come in. Sit anywhere you please, we have everything comfortable in out house." _Except my room,_ thought Sora. He stood up and bowed, then sat back down, trying not to glare at his mom.

His dad spoke up, "Hello there, Mrs. And Mr. Tami, welcome, welcome. My, my, you have a wonderful daughter. Namine, is it?"

"Yes, she's been such a great help to the Tami family," replied Namine's mom. Sora looked at Namine. She was wearing a cream colored dress that reached only to her thighs. And she had blond hair, which Sora has something against.

_She's more like Riku's type._ Sora snickered. His mom cast a warning glance and he stopped immediately.

"So, this is your son?" Namine's father asked. Sora's mom nodded eagerly, waiting to hear a nice comment about him.

"Ha, he looked like me when I was young, except more serious."

"Uh… Nice to meet you… Mrs. and Mr. Tami," said Sora dimly.

"And a nice gentleman too. Perfect for Namine." Sora cast a sideway glance at Namine, who didn't seem at all bothered by the conversation held.

All he could think of doing was diving down into the ocean, which seemly was impossible, considering the fact that his mom wouldn't let him.

"Why don't we let them alone, and we can start our dinner?" asked Sora's mom. Sora's stomach lurched down. He felt like his appetite disappeared.

"Good idea, Mrs. Hikari," said Mrs. Tami. She took a seat next to Sora, who edged away from her horrendous breath. The left side was reserved for Namine. She smiled at Sora, who waved back.

"So, you're Sora? You look cuter than I expected you to be," said Namine.

Sora knew he didn't feel love sparks flying between him. Namine offered a hand and Sora shook it. His mom urged him something he couldn't tell.

"And you're… just as pretty." Sora's mom shook her head.

"Beautiful," said Sora annoyingly, but hid it. What wrong calling someone pretty anyway?

"Why thank you." They chatted for the next few hours, with Sora making every single new conversation die like an airplane diving down into the ground. And Sora figured that if he spent the rest of his life with Namine on Earth, it would be spending days with Pluto in Hell.

Sora wanted the family to go, but when he checked around, no one was pleading to stop dinner, and nobody would put stitches to shut the Namine machine up. Sora groaned and looked into the sunset. He saw lots of people tanning, and kids building sandcastles. He wished he was any one of them, but nooooo, his life had to be planned out.

Sora almost fell asleep, but Namine would just perk him with more things about her life. Sora listened, uninterested in any of the information, and when the Tami family left, it was already to eleven p.m.

Once Sora's mom closed the door, she clenched her fists and did a triumph sign. "Good, everything went out according to plan." And Sora's prize was a slap in the face.

"Up to your room, and no coming out of there till seven," she barked. Sora felt like a prisoner.

Sora locked his door, then turned out the lights. Taking his book bag, he walked up to his balcony and took one last peek at the door, then tied his rope to the edge of the balcony. He looked down, and when the end of the rope touched the ground, he pulled on it to make sure it wasn't loose. He grabbed the string and pulled himself down slowly. After his feet touched the ground, he pulled on the rope and put it into his backpack. If he didn't want to be found, he couldn't leave it behind.

_One Year Later._

"Yes!" 15-year-old Sora cheered. He won the bet against Roxas, who glumly handed over his twenty-dollar bill.

"So, Leon's still better than Cloud," Roxas grumbled.

"No way, Cloud's way better than Leon," exclaimed Sora. Leon and Cloud recently went into a fight, and Sora and Roxas were betting who was going to win.

"Sora's got a point," Aerith said. "Cloud is better."

Roxas snorted. "You're just saying that because you like him."

Aerith blushed. "No I don't."

Sora laughed at her. When he escaped home, he never even noticed how much he changed. The notice board of Sora was still there, but the older version looked so different, no one even asked if he was Sora anymore. Roxas pulled on his black hood (think KHII) teasingly.

"How about another bet? I get that twenty-bucks back if…"

"I keep it if Aerith admits her love on Cloud in a month!" Sora piped up.

"I'll say a month and half," answered Roxas. Aerith gaped at the two kids.

"Are you guys using me? There's just no way I'm gonna admit my love."

"Ha, so you do love him!" Sora and Roxas said in unison. Aerith just walked away.

"Hey, guys, you just can't believe what I found!" Sora and Roxas covered their ears as Tidus ran over.

"You just can't believe what I found! Come on guys!" Tidus nudged Sora and opened up his fist.

"Yeah, so?" Roxas asked as he peeked a look.

"It's a mermaid necklace, dumbo! Some mythologist found it on the shore this morning, and he said it was a mermaid necklace. Even the text explains that whenever sailors thought they saw a mermaid – or merman, they would find this kind of necklace soon, and it meant something dreadful was going to happen!"

Roxas laughed and took the necklace. It looked like it was made of green vines, with leaves everywhere. "You seriously believe in all that stuff?"

"I do," said Sora.

"And I don't," Tidus replied. "Here, you can have as an early birthday present. I don't feel up to collect sea stuff. Weapons and blitzballs are more entertaining in my opinion." Sora rolled his eyes.

"We have that crusade ship we need to catch up. You can stay on this island awing at their treasures, but the rest of us are leaving."

"Okay, okay, I won't. What time is it?"

Roxas looked at his watch. "Well, it's five minutes before the dock will be empty."

They were at the edge of the sea, where tourists came and had fun. Of course, most lived on the chain of islands, but half the populations used to be tourists.

"Jeez, and to think, all this time your parents are trying to find you?" Selphie said. "Why don't they come out and search for themselves?"

"That's how they are. They're dimwitted, too stupid, and lazy," said Sora. "Well, I don't want them to come out and try to find me. Life suits better when you're outside eating ice cream than exercising your brain inside."

"Your lucky, I didn't even know my parents," said Roxas.

"I'll switch."

"Uh… no."

"Nah, candy's better," argued Tidus. Sora shook his head.

"Ice cream and chocolate," said Sora. He had ten scoops of ice cream on his ice cream cone. Selphie shivered.

"Who can you not get brain freeze?" questioned Selphie.

"I do, I just endure it," Sora answered. He ran up the stairs, careful not to let the ice cream tower to topple down onto his spiky hair. Tidus and Selphie rolled their eyes and followed suit.

"I like the wind better than the salty sea," said Selphie and Tidus. Sora shrugged and continued to look down at the sea while eating his ice cream, but a scoop accidentally slipped and fell onto somebody's cap on the bottom of the deck.

"Oops," Sora whispered and ducked down before the stranger shot his head up. The guy was mad. Sora quickly finished his ice cream and acted as innocent as he could while the stranger stomped up the stairs and glowered around the second deck. Too bad for Sora because the stranger decided to choose him.

"Now look what you did to my favorite hat my girlfriend gave to me!" the man screamed at Sora.

"You really have to brush your teeth," remarked Sora. Mr. Stranger hung Sora by he collar.

"Don't you dare be a wise guy," he continued to say and tried to punch Sora, but he was too slow and Sora ducked down.

"You have to practice your aiming too," added Sora. The guy growled before throwing him to the edge.

"Hey, hey, hey. No fighting around here, folks. Do it when you're on the ground!" the manager said while he tried to stop the fight.

But a storm was brewing up and they both stopped, looking up. Dark clouds covered the sky, and before Sora knew it, the ship came crashing around the sea.

"I'll deal with you later, punk," the stranger spat out. He ran down for shelter, leaving only Sora to hold the railings.

"Damn it!" Sora said before flipping to the other side, holding on to his life. And so the theory of the necklace was true, how wonderful.

Sora looked down at the water and gulped. He never knew water would be this dangerous until now. With one last thrust from the ship, Sora lost his grip on the railing and fell down into the sea.

Author's Endnote: Review, and if you write flames, I willhunt down andkill you.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Whew, the damn mid-terms are finally over. I spent quite the time writing this over the weekend. Thanks to everyone who reviewed this story, and now let's get the show on the road!

Disclaimer: You got the point, I don't own Disney or Square.

Chapter 2:

"Gosh, Kairi, you are too slow!" Ariel laughed. Kairi tried her best to keep up with her, but she was just too swift in the water.

"Ariel! Wait for me!" Sebastian yelled. The little red crab was always left behind. Because Ariel was the princess of the sea, she needed a guardian, and what a pitiful one it was. Sebastian eventually caught up though.

"So, Ariel, why did your father send a rainstorm anyway?" Kairi asked.

"Well… He did tell me something flew over his kingdom. Probably wanted to destroy it." She thought for a moment before continuing, "Hey, wanna go up there? Of course, we're not aloud to, but I've been up there a thousand times to collect treasure and stuff and I've never been caught. Come on, give it a try."

"Okay, I've always wanted to meet land dwellers," said Kairi. She never saw the land and sky before, so it was the only thing she wanted to look at. She knew there were humans, and she seen dead one under the sea. She wanted to see what's up there, so Kairi nodded eagerly at Ariel's remark.

They swam up to the water, and Kairi took one last look down, hoping that no one would see them.

"Wow, is this how it's like up here?" Kairi exclaimed. The sea from above was a lot bigger than expected. She looked up at the dull clouds, and around. Ariel grabbed her and pulled her down.

"There're humans passing our way," she whispered. Kairi followed her, and she glanced at the large dark oval passing their way.

"That's a huge ship," Kairi said. "Wait, so your dad saw the ship, and he sent rain clouds to scare it away? Isn't that kinda stupid?"

"Yeah, but he's always suspicious," answered Ariel. She looked around and spotted a human floating in the water. "Is he dead?"

"Dunt know." Kairi swam over to it and put her head out of the water. It was a boy, no older than herself.

"He's still alive at least," said Ariel. "Come on, we have to help him. She gazed at her friend, who was pink. "Like him?" she teased.

"I don't even know him," answered Kairi hotly. She swam over to the body and dragged him down.

"You're not supposed to drag him down. You're suppose to get him back on shore," groaned Ariel.

"Yeah, but we'll just give him our medicine, then we let him leave in peace," said Kairi. Ariel shook her head.

"And he can just get all the humans suspicious?"

"Well, I'll just tell him not to utter a word about us."

They came to Kairi's little hiding place, almost like her home, and she want to her coral shelf and took a bottle with a pill and went back to the big coral where the strange boy was. She dropped the pill into the boy's mouth, and a few seconds later he coughed.

"What's going on?" he asked wearily. He looked around, unconsciously noticing that he was sitting on a coral in the water.

"Are you okay?" Ariel asked. He looked at her, and then her tail.

"You have a tail?" Sora said, shocked.

"Yeah, dumbo," she replied as she flicked her green tail and swam up.

"Wait… that makes you… a mermaid," Sora pointed out. "You're a mermaid!"

"Do your eyes need adjusting? Because if you do, my friend can fix that." She pointed over to the other strange mermaid with a blue tail.

"But, you guys don't exist." _Wait, what am I talking about?_ Sora pondered to himself. "I mean, I thought I did… lots of other people didn't."

"See? Some people believe us," the girl with the blue tail said.

"So, most people think that a human having a tail is crazy, and that's what Triton wants it, doesn't he?"

"Well, yeah."

Sora was lost, so he just listened to their ongoing conversation. He kept thinking if it were all a dream. He hoped it wasn't, but it was all a little awkward about it.

"So, what to do with him? He cannot, I tell you, go to our city. If Triton finds out, we'll die, even if Iam my father's daughter," said the girl with the green tail.

"Sorry, but I never advised that at all," the other girl retorted. She sighed and came swimming over to the boy.

"What's you name anyway?" The boy looked up with his blue eyes.

"Sora."

"Nice name. I'm Kairi." The other girl smirked. "And over there's Ariel."

Sora tried to stand up, but he floated instead. "Hey, how come I can breathe?"

"Good question," Kairi said. She turned around and asked, "How come he can breathe underwater?" Ariel shrugged.

"Does he have anything of our race?" Sora shuffled around his pockets and found the necklace Tidus gave to him before.

Ariel came racing over. "That enables human to breathe. How did you get that?"

"Ask my friend," answered Sora. He decided to put it around his neck, so he wouldn't loose it easily.

"I suppose I have to get back to land. Thanks for you help."

"Wait one moment," asked Ariel. Sora did what he was told, and Kairi whispered, "Don't tell anyone that there are live mer-people."

"What's the harm? Nobody would believe me," stated Sora, who was practicing swimming.

"You never know. People might believe in anything," Ariel said. Sora nodded and swam away.

"Okay," started Ariel, "let's put this straight. What _if _he tells about us? Then what?"

Kairi thought for a moment. "I don't know."

"If we get caught, I'll swear I'll kill you. Fine, I'm kidding. But you know what I mean." Kairi laughed nervously. They both didn't realize that someone was spying on them.

"Good, so that Sora kid has met the mermaids? I knew something funny about him," Ansem chuckled.

His hand swept over the globe, where the picture of Kairi and Ariel were talking. "Now's the good time for plan A." He laughed in his grotto.

* * *

Sora popped his head out of the water and breathed. He was close to the shoreline, and he found Roxas making a sandcastle. _A sneak attack would be fun_, Sora thought. He ducked under the water, and being able to breathe underwater, he didn't' have to worry getting choked. 

He waited like a frog, and when Roxas came near to pick another seashell up, he dived up and tackled Roxas. His back hit the sandcastle, making it fall all over his body. Sora laughed.

"Wha –?" Roxas frowned at Sora. "I thought you were dead! How did you survive?"

"Well, uhh…"Sora trailed off.Roxas swept all the sand off of him, and then waited for an explanation.

"I have good surviving skills," Sora lied. Roxas stared suspiciously at him.

"If that's what you say… you owe me."

"For what?"

"Getting me all dirty, that's what."

"It was just a joke."

"Give me back my twenty dollar, and I'll spare you."

"No, I won it fair and square. You can get it back when you win the other bet," Sora sneered. "If you can."

Roxas crossed his arms. "Hmph."

"Sora!" Tidus yelled behind them. "How did you survive? We were about to give a funeral."

"You go tell him," Sora said quietly to Roxas.

"Give me my twenty dollars."

"No, they're officially mine."

"I don't care."

"But I've already ordered the bank to deposit it."

"Then withdraw it."

"That happens three years later."

"Liar."

Sora growled and took out his paper and pointed at it. "See, it says, 'Any money deposited by people under the age of 18 will get their money back when they are officially adults.'"

"Then pinky promise that you'll give me back when three years has passed and on the time of July 26, 6:24 a.m."

"I'll still be sleeping on my birth date," defended Sora.

"You sleep in a tree house that I kindly built for you, so I can come and intrude your dreams anytime."

Tidus bounced his eye back and forth on the argument.

"No."

"Yes."

"Get it when you win a bet."

"Never."

The sun started setting, for they had been arguing about a twenty-dollar bill for approximately four hours, or so Tidus counted. He wrote down what they all said, and when they finished, they looked up at Tidus and asked, "What are you doing?" Tidus gave a handy wave and speeded off, leaving them two to continue to argue until midnight.

The next morning, Sora and Roxas tiredly went to meet Cloud and Leon, who were blackmailed by Arieth to take everyone to the mall. Sora and Roxas were not interested in going to the mall at all. When they read the Sunday newspaper though, they both turned to Tidus.

"Tidus? Why did you have to put our argument in it?"Sora and Roxas asked.Tidus shrugged.

"Drat it, if mom finds out about this newspaper, I'll be doomed!" Sora yelled as he pointed at the small paragraph.

"I only did it for Roxas. He wanted the twenty dollar – he'll get one." He took out a crispy unfolded bill and gave it to Roxas.

"And what about me? I'll get discovered, don't you worry," Sora snapped. He threw his bottle away into the trashcan. Selphie went into Pac Sun, Cloud and Arieth went to talk, Tidus was buying video games, and Leon and Yuffie gone to check out the arcade, leaving the two sitting by the fountain, doing absolutely nothing.

"Tell me again why we agreed onto this?" Sora asked.

"I don't know," answered Roxas.Sora only snorted. He flipped another coin and wished the time to go faster into the fountain.

"Do you seriously believe on all that hocus pocus stuff?"

Sora didn't answer. He didn't know himself, ever since he found out about mermaids. And it sounded that they had a big city somewhere.

* * *

"Ariel, Kairi!" 

"Now look what's happened to us," Ariel hissed.

"It was your idea in the first place to go up there!" Kairi hissed back at her. They swam forward to meet Triton, the king of the Atlantic Ocean. He didn't look happy.

"What have I told you two about going up there? You know it's dangerous!" he said.

"But we were…"

"Oh, shut your excuses, Ariel! If Sebastian wasn't watching you, who knows what could have happened? Ariel, you're grounded, and Kairi, I don't want you to bother her anymore," Triton yelled. Ariel gave the face to Kairi, you-owe-me-big. Kairi only swam away.

_Great, more people against me_, though Kairi as she sat onto the cliff, watching the busy city. She did not have a parent at all, and no one wanted to adopt her. "Huh," she grumbled, and sat there all day watching the city, even at night. If the problem never happened, King Triton would invite her friendly to his dinner at night, and she would chat with Ariel, who now was mad at her too.

And while all the moment, someone was lurking into Ariel's grotto.

"Come in," Ariel said wearyingly. She took a rock and threw it onto her little coral, where she liked to sit or weep on it. Ariel poked Flounder in the fin and turned around to see who entered. A merman that was extremely tanned and had white hair stood by the doorway.

"Has my father send another servant?" Ariel asked.

"No, girl, but I did come to take you to there," sneered the merman. He grabbed Ariel's wrist and towed her away.

"Hey, let go of me!" Ariel yelled. He only chuckled.

"Foolish girl." He continued to drag her to the kingdom, and when the guy opened the double doors, she screamed at him.

"What's going on here?" said Triton.

"We haven't met for a long time, had we?" said the stranger.

"Get your hands off of her," Triton demanded. He got up from his seat. Ansem only laughed as usual.

"Give me the throne, and I'll release your daughter and her funny little fish." He shook Ariel from her wrist and took out his knife. The edge faced toward Ariel's neck, and she stopped breathing instantly, afraid.

"So what's it gonna be, huh? I either kill your daughter, and find some other means of getting the throne, or surrender now."

Triton growled. Ariel tried to talk, but Ansem pressed it against Ariel's neck. If it were shoved further, Ariel would have been slaughtered.

"Fine. Give me back my daughter." Triton took his trident out. Ariel wanted to say something. Ansem took the trident and took the knife away. He took a potion out and dropped it to the ground, and when the black smoke cleared, the guards were posing there, ready to fight.

"Too late now Triton!" were Ansem's last words.

* * *

Kairi woke up. Something was bothering her, and she turned to see the kingdom. Where in the middle of the city was supposed to be bright, it turned into a dull shady color. Smoke was covering the middle, and it disappeared just as quickly it had appeared. 

Kairi got up immediately, hoping that Ariel didn't get hurt. She swam over, ignoring everyone's presence and their swearing words of rushing. When she saw the familiar rock that covered Ariel's grotto, she knocked on it. There was no voice, so Kairi budged the door open and looked inside the empty room. She swam over to the coral when she found a piece of paper on it.

_Your girl is gone._

_-Ansem_

Indeed, Ariel wasn't in the room.

"Ariel, Ariel!" she called. No one answered. Only her voice echoed off the walls. She hurried to Triton. She found him sitting there looking tiredly.

"Ariel's gone! So is the trident! Now sea is in danger!" Sebastian yelled over and over again. "We'll all be doomed, human or not!" He swam in a circle, and Kairi picked him up by the claw.

"What happened?" Kairi asked.

"Ariel's gone! The trident's gone! Our wise king is gone! Everything is gone!" Sebastian continued to panic.

"Who did it? Ursula?"

"Ursula's already dead," said Triton. Kairi let go of the little red crab. "Ansem took the trident and Ariel." He sighed. "It's all my fault."

"Ansem?"

"Ariel's gone! The trident's gone! Our wise king is –"

"Shut up, Sebastian!" Kairi said as she muffled Sebastian's mouth. "We know. We want to find Ariel, and I'll try to help, okay?"

"You can't," said Triton. "You can't just budge into his cave. It's protected. You would need an item to deactivate whatever's in there. And can't go alone. You need at a human to help you. It's what the legend says."

"What's the legend?" questioned Kairi. She let go of the crab, and listened to everything, if she was ever hoping to help her friend back.

"The same cave that Ansem rests in was where Poseidon, the god of the sea lived. When a merman almost murdered him, Poseidon decided to protect the so-called cave with special effects. There's a shield blocking the cave, and if even managed to break it, you would end up on the other side of the cave if you wanted to go in.

"Ansem figured a way out though. Poseidon hid a locket away somewhere else, and Ansem found it after the long years. He threw the locket back to where it was found, so nobody could enter it besides him," finished Triton.

Kairi had never seen a king weep. She couldn't imagine it in her dreams at all. But there was one right in front of her eyes. Sebastian swam to Triton and patted his back.

Kairi couldn't take it anymore and went to go look for the same person she met yesterday.

"Wait, Kairi! You mustn't!" Triton called out. Kairi ignored his protests. Who would care if she met just a human she trusted?

She dived up to the surface and gazed around in the opening. It was much nicer than before, when it was storming. Kairi spun around before finding the shore. _Sora has to be somewhere here,_ Kairi thought. She waited, watching the shore with her head unnoticeable.

* * *

"How long do they shop?" Roxas asked angrily. He was slurping on his twenty-seventh smoothie, along with Sora, who wasted fifty-two dollars to buy fifty-two ice creams, and managed to endure brain freeze. 

"Want to go to the beach?" Sora asked. He threw his napkin away and took another dollar out. "I think they're too into their shopping to even remember where they are."

"Okay," replied Roxas. They walked out of the crowded, marble mall, and out into the sandy Central Island. They sat at the shore.

"Want to make a sand castle?" Sora asked. Bad mistake.

"Fine, but give me the twenty-dollars." Roxas smirked. Sora sighed and threw sand at him, then laughed.

Sora was happy. Life was sweet when he didn't have any more parents. If he never bumped into Roxas that day, he would probably have never felt this way…

_Sora looked around the forest, then up onto his balcony. He felt stuck. If his parents found out that he was there, he would be grounded._

_He took his flashlight out of his backpack and flashed around until he saw the path that led out of the stupid mansion._

_Sora shivered. What if there were bears in there, or werewolves? Maybe it's a full moon today._

_He slowly walked down the stony road, waving his flashlight around, making sure that he wasn't going the wrong way. If he were back onto his bed, he would have felt cozier with the warm heat._

_But no matter how cozy it was he would have only felt comfortable his parents weren't so bad._

_A crow screeched, making Sora freeze where he was. His mind told him to run back and get grounded, but he was close to his freedom. He decided to continue, ignoring the cracking wood beneath his feet._

_Finally, he made it out, and saw that dusk already tainted the night sky. Sora sighed in happiness, but he felt really cold. He edged over next to the public sea, which was totally different from the private beach he used to own. It looked so unusual, where broken seashells littered the ground, with sand holes crabs dug up, unlike the other beach, where no crabs lived in the sand, and only a few unbroken shells were on the ground._

_Sora knew that the beach he saw then was the real beach, just like how he saw it in books. Only if mer-people were everywhere in the water, the scene would have been perfect enough for a painter to paint a masterpiece._

_The next day, Sora took his time to get familiar to his surroundings. It was all so exciting. If he were still in the mansion, his mom would have probably been making him wait in the library, ready for the next lesson. And Sora felt like he was already learning._

_And when afternoon came, Sora was in a tough situation. He was getting hungry, and he only had a dollar he snuck from his mom's wallet._

_Sora's stomach grumbled over and over again, and he couldn't do anything about it._

"_Hey, dude, are you like okay? You've been sitting there for a while," the blond boy came over and sat down, talking. "You look like you need a little help."_

_He helped Sora up, and said, "Come on, what's your name?"_

"_Sora."_

"_Hey, two weirdoes were posting signs about someone lost. It certainly looks like you," he said suspiciously._

"_I, err…" Sora couldn't say no, but he didn't want to say yes either. The boy grinned._

"_You need a home." He towed Sora away._

"_Hey, what are you doing?" Sora demanded._

"_I'm not going to report to the police, if that's what you're thinking. You're on of those people who doesn't like their home." He continued to drag Sora, who calmed down and followed him._

"_Oh, my name's Roxas," the boy piped up. "Did you ever bet before?" Sora shook his head, and Roxas stopped and searched his back pockets of his jeans. He pulled out twenty-dollars and gave to Sora. "It's where you vote for something, while I vote for something else, and if one of us gets it right, we get the other person's money, and so the winner get all the money from the losers who give up their money." Roxas looked at Sora's confused face and laughed._

"_Okay, if two people were to race from here to their destination, two people or more may want to 'bet' to see who would get there first. Let's say the first person was Spongy, while the second is Bob. I would say that Bob would win, while in your thinking that Spongy will win. Then we say how much money or something else we're betting, and we see who wins. If Spongy won, you would get the things I bet. If Bob won, I would keep my things and get all of your things that you bet. Is that more clear?"_

"_You are a horrible teacher," was all Sora could think of. Roxas laughed again._

"_Want to be friends?" Roxas gave him a hand. Sora took it uncertainly._

"_Okay," Sora slowly mumbled. Roxas bent down to get something, and when Sora turned away, Roxas threw sand at him._

"_H-hey!" Sora shook his spiky hair and glowered at Roxas. "What was that for?" Beyond Roxas was a restaurant, and Sora's stomach instantly grumbled._

"_Food awaits us!" Roxas said cheerfully and dragged him into the restaurant._

Sand fell flat onto Sora's face.

"H-hey! I wasn't ready!" Sora yelled as he wiped the sand off his face. Roxas only snickered.

Kairi looked at the two fighting each other and smiled. It was just like playing with Ariel in the water. The sun was setting, and nobody was at the shore anymore except Sora and his friend. Kairi took a risk and swam over to the group. She couldn't wait for the other human to be gone because Sora would probably go along with him.

"Sora!" Kairi yelled. She didn't yell to loud, or it would've caused people to look at her. Sora's friend turned to the voice.

"Dude, what's with people staying in the water in the sunset these days?" the boy asked. Sora turned to look too.

"Kairi, what are _you_ doing here? Isn't your city going to get in trouble?" Sora asked. He moved closer to the shore, along with the other boy.

"Just who is she?" the boy asked.

Sora didn't know what to do. Would Kairi want Roxas to know that she was a mermaid?

"Um, Roxas?" said Sora. "Would you promise not to tell anyone that she's a…"

"What?" Roxas said. Kairi moved as close as possible and mouthed to Sora, "Tell him!"

"She's a… she's a mermaid." Roxas looked disbelievingly to Sora. Kairi saw the scene and showed her fins. Roxas yelled and hid behind Sora.

"It's okay, she's nice. She helped me!" Sora hissed. He looked over to Kairi, who was telling them to go into the water.

Sora walked into water, and Roxas followed suspiciously.

"Ariel needs help!" Kairi said the moment Sora's waist was in the water.

"Who's Areca?" Roxas asked. Sora snatched Roxas's ear and tugged it. "Ouch, ouch, stop!"

"She's been kidnapped, along with the trident!" Kairi explained hastily.

"What's the trident?" Sora asked, not letting go of Roxas's ear.

"It controls the sea, and your world can be in danger as well as mine," said Kairi. "You have to help." She explained the rest of the story to Sora and Roxas. When she finished, no one spoke.

"You mean, he'll destroy the world?" said Roxas. Kairi swiftly nodded.

"If we don't find this locket, we'll all die soon enough, and it'll be too late when Ansem unleashes the trident's most powerful attack."

"Heesh, isn't that a little harsh?" inquired Sora.

"Come on, I know where we can start looking. I know these waters very well –"

"Wait, just why do we humans have to come along?" interrupted Roxas.

"Look, I just do. Please stop asking questions, we're wasting our precious time," begged Kairi.

Sora took out his necklace and snapped the weeds into two and handed it to Roxas. He looked at it as if it was untrustworthy. Sora wrapped his own around his wrist. Roxas glanced at it once more before following the same. Before any of them could say anything, Kairi hauled them down.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: This chapter will pretty much be based on Riku. Thanks for all the people who reviewed!

Disclaimer: I don't own Disney or Square. And I don't own KH.

* * *

Chapter 3:

"You worthless piece of shit!" Sora's mother yelled. Riku stood there perfectly still, getting blown by words.

"It's been a year – no, more than a year and you still haven't found him?" she continued to yell.

"Mrs. Hikari, I tried as best as I –"

"Your best is not good enough!" Mrs. Hikari interrupted. "For ten years, we gave you food and shelter, and I expected you to take care of Sora. Instead, you let him escape! And now you've lost your job because your best just wasn't good enough! I don't even know why we bothered to adopt you, but now out of the house!" Riku glared at her.

"You can't just do that, you baka!" Riku yelled back. Mrs. Hikari walked up to him and grabbed a fistful of his silver hair.

"Do as I say or I'll order policemen to get you out," she hissed and threw Riku to the door. She grabbed the knob and turned it, opening the door and kicked Riku out. "And don't come back!" She slammed the door shut.

"Bastard," Riku said under his breath.

* * *

"I still don't fancy shopping," Tidus whined. "My back's aching." He set Selphie's yellow shopping bag and stretched his back. The rest were already waiting at the water fountain.

"Did any of you see Sora or Roxas?" Cloud asked wearily. "They said they were waiting here." He was sitting on the black marble floor, leaning against the fountain wall.

"No," Tidus and Selphie replied. Selphie was currently licking on her rainbow lollipop. She checked her watch.

"It's time already. Why aren't they here?" Selphie said. She threw her lollipop into the same trashcan that had all of Sora's napkins.

They waited for another hour, but the two friends didn't come, and the team gave up.

"Maybe they left us," Yuffie said and shrugged. "It's getting dark. I need to go. Thanks Leon." Leon only deepened his frown. "Well, maybe we should come by at Roxas's house."

So they did, but no one was there. And the door was locked.

"Where the hell's Roxas and Sora? " Leon asked. "I highly doubt they're in the mall judging by their attitude this morning."

"They aren't home either, and if I know those two, they would have not been kidnapped," Aerith commented. "Where ever they are, I'm sure they're not in trouble."

* * *

Riku sighed. He spent most of his money on the cruise ship. He was really eager to get off of Destiny Island. And everywhere he walked was the picture of Sora, the same fourteen-year-old Sora that used to be his friend.

And now he was alone, and he had no idea what to do. He was independent on everything, but he's never been alone. He hasn't seen the world since he was six. And a lot of things changed.

Riku handed his money into the machine and reached out for the blue ticket that was getting transferred. But the machine stopped halfway through, and the ticket wads stuck.

"Aw, shoot," Riku murmured and tried to pull it out, only to rip it to half. "Dang it!" He kicked the machine and punched, but it didn't respond. He kicked it one more time before giving up.

"Damn, damn it all." He gave the ticket machine one last kick before giving up and moving himself to the bench by it.

_Now what to do…_ Riku looked at the rest of his money. He didn't have enough money to buy one from the other ticket machine.

"I'm cursed," Riku said to himself. He stared at the stone floor and sat there for two hours, three hours…

_What's this, some kind of paper?_ Riku said as he spotted a rectangular like object on the bottom. He took it and flipped it over. _Unbelievable… Sora threw this away?_

It was envelope that only Riku knew better than anyone else. He gave it Sora on his last birthday, and since Sora was always locked in his room, Riku decided to slip it under his door.

_I wanted to say happy birthday to you, but I see that your mom locked you into your bedroom, again. So I'll say it in this envelope, Happy Birthday._

_-Riku_

_P.S. I gave you something else._

The thing that Riku gave to Sora was still in the envelope, all rusty from the rain. It was a necklace with white seashells on it, and a really little mermaid at the middle. Riku had found it in the attic when he was cleaning. He decided to give it to Sora, since he was an ocean lover.

_He lost it; he only dropped it by accident. He's still my friend_, Riku thought to himself, thinking that Sora didn't abandon him. But the weather didn't agree. It rumbled, as if telling him that the friendship was over.

Riku stored it in his pocket and continued sitting there, ignoring his own stomach, the clouds and the people gossiping, but one topic caught his attention.

"Seriously, what if something bad happened to them?" a chirpy girl asked worriedly. "I mean, shouldn't we do something?"

A woman's voice started talking. "Look Selphie, I'm sure they're fine."

"And what if Sora's parents somehow _did_ find Sora and Roxas and took them away?" a boy said.

Riku looked up and found a group talking. They were buying tickets at the other ticket machine. The chirpy brunette started talking again. "Yeah, Aerith, you can't act like there's nothing wrong."

"But even if there was something wrong, we can't do anything about it," the woman in a pink dress replied. She took the tickets out and gave them to the group. "Come on, we'll just have to wait. I mean, something would have happened if Sora's parents took them away. Maybe there would have been people taking down the posters by now if they did." She picked up her shopping bag again and started walking away.

"Wait!" Riku yelled. They all turned around and looked at him.

"Hello dude with the silver hair," the blondish boy said rudely.

"Don't be so mean," Selphie said.

"Uhh… well…" Riku stopped. Selphie crossed her hands.

"You look familiar…" Selphie whispered suspiciously. She looked for something in her purse and took out a leather book. She opened it and scanned through it.

"No, no, no, nah… I know who you are!" Selphie exclaimed. "You're Riku Honda, you are currently sixteen years of age, you have been missing for ten years total, your mom and dad died a long time ago, you were an orphan, you had silver hair when you were little and aqua blue eyes." She peered at Riku. "Yep, that's him. One of the most wanted in the Orphanage Department."

A ninja-looking girl snatched it out of the brunette's hands. "How the heck did you get all these information about every single orphanage?" she asked.

Selphie discourteously took it back. "For your information, my father works with the Orphanage Department. And he's given me the book so I can help him find the missing people." She slammed the book onto the girl's head. "Be dead, Yuffie." The girl fell flat onto the floor.

The boy with spiky hair sighed with the brown haired man. "Disastrous, we have to control Selphie sometime," they both said in unison.

"Wait!" Selphie said so piercingly that everyone at the sidewalk had to put their hands on over their ears. "How did you escape from the Orphanage Department anyway? My dad's the best looking over people."

"I – well, I – I mean," Riku hesitated over his words. "Well, I kinda got kidnapped. Sor- I mean a family came over at night and took me away."

"Someone kidnapped you," Selphie said, dumbfounded. "You mean someone kidnapped you." Riku nodded slowly.

"And, well, I eavesdropped a little on your conversation, and I'm trying to find Sora right now."

"Ooh, ooh! Do you know where Sora is?" Selphie asked excitedly.

"Uhh, no," Riku said. Selphie's face fell.

"Come on, Selphie! For the last time, Aerith told you that nobody knows!" the spiky hair kid said.

"Shut up, Cloud! I don't need your opinion! Sora was already lost once, and now he's lost again, and this time he's with Roxas!" Selphie said angrily. "Next, I'll see all of you disappearing."

"Calm down," Cloud sighed exasperatedly.

"Sorry, I'm just concerned. I'm a big worrier, ain't I?" said Selphie.

"Actually," the brown haired man started, "he's telling you to shut up."

"No he isn't, Leon! You and your big, stupid mouth," Selphie murmured vehemently.

"Are you guys telling me that you don't know where Sora is?" Riku asked. Selphie nodded.

"They said they were going to wait inside the mall, but when we got back from shopping, he wasn't there. I'm worried."

Aerith put one of her hands behind Selphie's back. "Why don't we check back here tomorrow? If they're not back at their houses, we'll keep checking." She turned to Riku. "And I guess Riku will have to stay with us for now. He's legal enough to live on his own. He doesn't need to be in the Orphanage Department anymore."

* * *

"Ariel, Ariel," Ansem chuckled. He was holding the trident, and it was about to slash Ariel. "What a wonder. Do you know what I'm about to do?"

"No, but I bet it's something not good," Ariel said tensely. She looked over her shoulders and tried to unchain herself from the wall, but it was not use.

"Ha, ha! I love seeing you struggle. Why not just let you free? You're right, I am doing something not good," Ansem said.

"Then why are you doing it? What? So you can be pleased seeing humans dieing? I that what you want?" Ariel asked angrily.

"No, but enough talk about that," Ansem continued. "I need you as a part of my plan. And I need a human. But not just any ordinary human. I need someone, someone like your little human brat."

"You mean Sora?" Ariel said. "No, he's not going to get involved in this!"

"Sorry, but last time I checked, it's me holding the trident, not Triton, and so you have no control over me," Ansem said darkly. He aimed the point of the trident at Ariel, and a few seconds later Ariel fell asleep.


End file.
